Oh why, why did you have to bring this thread back up????

Thanks for the New York Times link. It was a story I otherwise would not have read today.

I live in Rick Steves' hometown. His empire is HQ'ed here. He holds Saturday morning seminars for Rickniks. They come by the hundred, taking over the town movie theater to hear about English tipping rules and French bistro waiters and what special sandal to buy and which fanny pack has been approved by Rick himself. Then the morass of Rickniks spill into the streets of our normally well-adjusted little town, comparing fanny packs and stressing over Eurostar schedules and how much to tip the pensione clerk they may meet two years from now.

Rick is said to be a lot less nice guy since he became a) older and b) rich.

My wife and I just got back from Italy last night and we met a couple in Venice who were on an 18 day "Rick Tour". They were a very nice older couple and the gentleman was terrified to travel overseas from the USA. He couldn't believe that we could just plan a trip and take one.

The moral here is that Ricks tours aren't for everyone (me included) but he managed to make this couple very happy as they finally got over to Europe by booking through a name they trusted ^^^

I love an excuse to bump this thread - it cracks me up

from the man himself (or one of the minions running the empire)

Dear Traveler,

I just wanted to quickly let you know that I'll be featured on CBS's
"60
Minutes" this Wednesday, May 25th (8 p.m., 7 p.m. Central). The crew
filmed at our Edmonds office last fall, then followed me to Amsterdam
and
Germany on a whirlwind guidebook research trip. Next week you'll find a
behind-the-scenes look at this experience in my website's June Travel
News:
http://www.ricksteves.com/news/travelnews/

Happy travels,

Rick Steves

They'll surely have the retiring Mike Wallace in khakis and blue short-sleeved shirt, sticking his head out of moving train windows and knee-slapping it with intoxicated locals at hole-in-the-wall eateries.

As much as I hate contributing to old threads...

I actually think Rick Steves has done a great job promoting overseas travel by Americans. We all like to think that we are smarter than the next travel guru, but there is no need to bash Rick Steves.

Where were you 15 years ago, before the Internet made travel so easy and comfortable? The cynics (and even some of the experts) here make me laugh. Given the choice of travel authors back then (Frommers, Fodors, etc), Rick Steves was the best in my opinion, although one has to give Frommers credit as well for being one of the early pioneers.

I don't use Steves much today given my travel patterns and interests, but I still happily take a look at his books for ideas when researching a trip to a Western Europe destination.

Anyway, 15 years ago, I had never set foot outside North America. I read a few travel books from some great travel writers that inspired me, but I was still landlocked. I had an opportunity to study overseas, so I started on my quest to visit some other countries -- before e-mail, fare mistakes, LCCs and VoIP, and 0% interest credit cards.

I picked up Rick Steve's "Through the Back Door" for Asia and Europe as well as the Lonely Planet Shoestring series. To this day, I think these are still the best books for new travelers. Rick gave me enough inspiration and information to want to visit other places and Lonely Planet told me I could afford it on a poor student's budget.

Fast forward 5 years, and I had already crisscrossed the majority of the countries featured in the first two books of Rick's I mentioned. All told, 25 or so countries in Europe, Asia and South America.

Fast forward 10 years, and I had visited 35 unique countries (including repeat visits to more than half of them)

Fast forward 15 years to today, I've been to a few more countries, perhaps not as many as those who care about counting countries but I am proud of where I have been in terms of the time I spent there and the experience.

While the Internet has made travel cheaper, time is still a precious resource and increasingly scarce, so I am grateful that I caught the travel bug as early as I did. I can't see myself taking some of the trips I took when I was younger (such as hitchhiking across Bavaria from Prague to London in 1990 :) ).

And, I give Rick Steve's some credit for my wanderlust today.

Lastly, my biggest pet peeve: BUY A TRAVEL GUIDE. A good travel guide or two does not replace the information you can find on an Internet Bulletin Board. The books are good investments and will save you money and time over the long run.

Nothing But Envy at Someone Else's Success
 

Steves has pioneered the combination of travel TV with the sale of travel books.

His economy travel objectives may not sit well with some on this board. But Americans abroad stumbling around abroad with huge suitcases make Rick Steves look very good.

How can anyone hate this guy? I could see not liking his materials and programs, but if this guy triggers your hatred, you need some anger management.

^ Folks can dislike him, but he has improved overseas travel for many Americans. His panter may be getting a touch old, and some of the "off-the-beaten-track" places are becoming overrun because of him, but he's done more for American travel then anyone I know.

keith

Old threads never die, they are just waiting on a bump.:D

I think much of the contempt here for Steve is due to the different perspective many of us have on European travel. For Steve's target audience, this may be the vacation of a lifetime. But when we tell our friends, neighbors or clients, "Yeah, I have to go to Paris for the weekend on business," they think, "Oh, how exciting." But we're thinking of the fourteen hours in the air each way, whether those upgrades will clear, will Heathrow have more fog delays(?) and the pleasures of jet lag all squeezed into seventy two hours out and back.

Rick Steves is a Stoner ;)

I knew I liked this guy. I've seen him speak several times and go to his agency occasionally to do research for trips. I doesn't surprise me at all that he likes to light one up on occasion.

I like his books and travel shows. Sure I don't follow most of his tips, but it's still informative. The only thing that bothers me is his forum on the website, esp when it comes to 'security'. Posters there all seemed freakishly worried about people stealing from them. I never thought of wearing a money belt (or whatever that's called). Paris, London is just like NYC. Use common sense. If they wanna rob you, they know where that money belt is.